Emotions run rampant in philly, Police Have emotions too.

Are you concerned about the turmoil in society, in Canada and especially in the U.S.?  Racism flourishes, thrives, and proliferates, in both countries. You know why this is?  There are many reasons, most of which are valid, but one reason that is often overlooked is that racism and turmoil involve emotions. You can’t have turmoil without emotions. When emotions get flared up, amongst people who disagree, especially about a contentious issue, you get turmoil. If the emotions don’t get flared up, there is no turmoil.

From the perspective of the person experiencing them, emotions just seem to happen, to us, within us, during or after an event. It is not as if we can voluntarily turn on or off an emotion like we can raise our right arm or close our eyes. This is especially true when others express and emanate emotions around us, or toward us. They may yell and shout, angrily or anxiously. They may cry and sob, suddenly. We catch these emotions. They are contagious. We don’t know how to react, sometimes because we are not ready, and other times because we just don’t know what the best way is. But often we just react automatically. Emotions prompt us to react, often quickly, without thinking. Emotions don’t think. Racial situations involving death are a situation which automatically bring forth emotions. The emotions most prevalent in racial situations are fear and hate.

Having strong emotions is not unusual when we hear something like this: “When you come to a scene where somebody is in a mental crisis, and the only tool you have to deal with it is a gun … where are the proper tools for the job?”[1] In other words, how should it be handled? This is a quote from the lawyer for the family of a 27-year-old black man, Walter Wallace Jr., who was killed by the police in West Philadelphia, Pa. this week while brandishing a knife. He was mentally ill, taking lithium, probably because he was bipolar. His wife Dominique is due to be induced with her baby very soon, his tenth child. We don’t have to say that this is a very emotional situation. Emotions happen all around – to the police when they are facing a black man with a knife, to the man when he is facing police in uniforms with guns, to the thousands of observers who watched this happen on video, and, especially, to Walter’s mother, who witnessed the scene, and to his wife, Dominique, who is expecting a child very soon. Women who are pregnant are often emotional at the best of times. And very probably a bipolar man brandishing a knife with his wife soon having his 10^th child was not just emotional, but likely irrational and hyperactive, possibly out of control. And his wife will certainly be severely stressed now having the baby being induced with her husband just being killed by the police. My heart goes out to her. And to the other children, whose father was just killed by the police.

Emotions, especially in open, unstructured situations like this, prompt immediate, impulsive reactions which are not thought out. It is an unknown on both sides. It is crucial to be aware of this so that these negative reactions can be prevented. Coming into the situation, all parties, if they are able, need to be aware that impulsive reactions are apt to happen.

This situation elicits emotions, even for the police, who are human beings, who are trained to deal with criminals. Facing a black man with a knife is scary for the police. They have families. In the U.S., especially, the color of the skin of the person with the knife is likely to contribute to how scared the police will be. Their default position is one which considers the person to be a criminal. They have no time to check it out. They assume[2] criminality, so they shoot, out of fear. That is their perception, biased and incorrect as it is. Apparently they were advised he had mental health issues, according to Fox News,[3] but they have no way of knowing if the person is mentally ill, or criminally-minded, or both, which may have been the case. Besides, they do not know how to deal with mentally ill folks.

And emotions and guns do not go together, especially when people automatically fear for their lives. The police shouldn’t fear, since one person with a knife against two police with guns is a vast mis-match. But emotions don’t think. So they give in to fear. Fear rules when it shouldn’t. We get a strong sense of the fear the police must have felt when we hear their union rep say,[4] “These officers were aggressively approached by a man wielding a knife.” If they must shoot, which does not seem to be the case logically, since they could talk to the guy first (other than to shout threatening police warnings), then they could shoot the guy in the leg while the other cop disarmed him of the knife. But police don’t negotiate with criminals, their training to is dominate or overwhelm them. And it would be obvious that the police were not thinking of talking or negotiating with him, they were, by virtue of the union rep’s quote, aware of two things:  the man was aggressive and he was wielding a knife. Because they responded with emotion, their reaction was quick and lethal.

Part of the training of the police should be encompassing the reality that emotions and guns don’t go together, that guns are to be used as a last resort, rather than to be directed by the emotion of fear, which is what seemed to happen here. A fearful man with a gun is likely to shoot it. And catching a criminal is a feather in the police’s bonnet, so to speak, and they may have treated him like he was a criminal who had done a crime in the neighborhood. Black men can be mentally ill, you know.  And the family had initially called for medical intervention, but the police arrived. Instead, the police were armed with guns only, and with a police mentality.  As the family’s lawyer Shaka Johnson said, “You give them a gun. You give them rounds of ammunition. You train them how to kill. You train them how to hit head shots,” adding “You (are) setting them up and you are setting the community up. It is a lose-lose situation.” Had a psychologist, therapist, psychiatric nurse, social worker or psychiatrist arrived, Mr. Wallace would probably not have been afraid and would have stayed alive. They don’t wear uniforms or carry guns.  People are afraid of guns and knives, get emotional, and react, because emotions don’t think. But emotions can kill.

Facing police with guns is scary for the black man. He had been reported, at 4 pm Monday afternoon, to be brandishing a knife. Knowing that he is bipolar, which means he is irrational, he likely had many racing thoughts going through his mind. We do not know what they were, but since he was brandishing a knife, it would make sense that he was out to get his enemies, as he thought of them. Court records obtained by a news outlet also show Wallace had a criminal history.  Fox News reported that he rapped in his songs about shooting people, including police officers, and was awaiting trial for allegedly threatening to shoot a woman.  He also rapped about social justice and police injustice on his social media, WPVI-TV reported.[5]  It is unknown if these were paranoid delusions or signs of depression with feelings of helplessness, both of which can occur when a person is bipolar. And socially, his residence likely showed he lived in poverty, as there had reportedly been issues in the neighborhood previously.  And, being bipolar, his emotions likely ruled his actions, including taking a knife to the streets.

These emotions spread like wildfire. Emotions are contagious. When threatening emotions are felt, and when one identifies with these feelings in another person, that person is also likely to feel the same emotion. This can relate to a perception of a threat to a person’s identity, race, family or life. They spread to others, because they are contagious. People absorb contagious emotions, and when they do, it is because there is some affinity they have for the emotion. Or they may experience a counter-contagion, which is a quick reaction to their experience of the emotion they have absorbed, usually a negative reaction contrary to the initial emotion. Fear usually brings anger and rage, in an attempt to regain control over the source of the fear. Anger is shown in actions, as violence, looting, throwing objects, shooting, all come from emotions which drive the actions the people take. Emotions don’t think and these reactions are impulsive, reckless, but reflect the depth of the anger the individuals have, their disregard for life, and in a way is an attempt to show others that they have a real meaningless feeling, which is probably a result of years, decades or centuries of oppression as a result or racism.

If one person expresses the emotion openly, someone watching who has an affinity for that emotion likely then catches the same emotion, and feels they can join in.  Somehow the action observed shows them that it is acceptable, and not only that, but is supported by someone else doing the same action, so the emotion, previously suppressed, will be accepted and supported. This is a very meaningful emotion reaction for the person, as to feel emotionally accepted is one of the strongest emotional forces we can experience.  Especially if the person has felt depressed and had feelings of meaninglessness previously. To have the previously suppressed  emotion reinforced is likely to result in it being released, taking control and directing the person’s actions. They spread like wildfire through segments of society, as we have seen.

Does any of this sound like I am trying to defend the police?  Or trying to defend the victim?  Neither is the case. I am just trying to put myself into their situation. They are all human and all have feelings and perceptions and want to live happy lives. When situations like this spur emotions in the reader, the emotions promote the reader to take one side or another very quickly, according to their preconceived notion, in this case a preconceived bias for or against black men or police. Emotions pull for other emotions to join them, as we dislike being alone emotionally.

We don’t really know how to deal with emotions at a time like this.  Emotions run rampant when people are moving fast and lives are at stake.  Emotions thrive on fast, quick movements, so there is a large risk then, so people and police need to be aware of this to prevent dangerous events from happening. The best way to deal with them is to move your body in a different way, that is, put the guns down, don’t point the guns, sit down, be friendly, ask to talk.  A man with a knife is then more likely to put the knife down also. Except when the police have uniforms and arrest capabilities, this may not happen.  This is why a Therapy Force or a Social Force, unaffiliated with the police, without uniforms, guns or arrest capabilities should be involved in these situations. Instead, society, addicted to using the police to handle things, does not move on making changes, and these incidents continue to happen.

So, to summarize, turmoil via racism and police brutality returns to the US via Philadelphia, proving again that Emotions Don’t Think, because if they did there would be no racism and police brutality, which come from blind emotional bias.  And because people react from emotions, using an impulsive emotional reaction to fear, without thinking, such as power and destruction, emotions not only do not think, but as a result of that, it is clear that Emotions Kill!  This was evident in Philadelphia on Monday night.  Because when the Mind thinks, and provides the motivation for decisive action, fueled by principles and sound judgment, then killing does not happen. Instead, then, solutions happen. Solutions can involve the police, remembering that the killer cops are the bad cops and  do not represent all the cops.  Remember that situations do happen where cops resolve things like mentally ill black men with knives on the street peacefully and constructively but it does not make the news.  The news media need to tell us these situations so we in the public can take a proper perspective.

[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/28/walter-wallace-protests-national-guard-philadelphia/3760103001/

[2] This is a good place to point out the old trick about how to spell the word “assume”, it makes an ass out of you and me, which it seems to have done, in this case being lethal.   

[3] https://www.foxnews.com/us/walter-wallace-philadelphia-police-rap-cops

[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/27/philadelphia-police-shooting-walter-wallace/

[5] https://www.foxnews.com/us/walter-wallace-philadelphia-police-rap-cops